No beef or alcohol in our juice, says Golden Circle

IT boasts of being made under the sun, but some of the products used in the production of Golden Circle juice are far from fruity.

Heinz Australia, which owns Golden Circle, told Fairfax Media last week a clarifying agent derived from beef and alcohol-based flavours were used across its drinks range.

It was a revelation that caused outrage in sectors of the Hindu community, many of whom avoid meat and alcohol for religious reasons, and vegetarians and vegans, who do not consume animal products or by-products.

Now the iconic Queensland-born company has hit back at the claims, saying they were taken out of context.

Spokeswoman Carolyn Fox said a beef-derived gelatine was used to remove the "cloudiness" in its apple juice and "very small amounts of alcohol" were combined with concentrated flavours to keep them "stable, clean and crisp".

However she said gelatine or alcohol were used only for production purposes and were not were present in the final product.